Jonathan van Essche

director

“The work I’ve done until now has dealt with how people position themselves in this world that is rapidly changing. I am interested in visualising seemingly trivial events. I wish to dig deeper into these topics but at the same time I am a filmmaker and my films are as much about sounds, use of music, textures, colors and composition. I prefer location work to the studio."

Jonathan is currently working on the short film Unreal Estate in collaboration with visual artist Ksenia Galiaeva and produced by near/by film. Unreal Estate combines the saga of the summerhouse of Ksenia's parents and its inhabitants with the concept of 'autobiographical fiction': the making of self-story, the fictional elements in memory and identity, the use of personal metaphors, and imagination as a tool in a visual or literary narrative. Jonathan and Ksenia share an interest in open narratives and in the way that memories and associations are processed and can be turned into universal metaphores.

Jonathan holds a MA Audiovisual Arts from LUCA School of Arts and Design in Brussels.